School Board agrees to send budget to voters

SARATOGA SPRINGS >> A The Saratoga Springs City School District has informally agreed to send a $116.44 million budget to voters for approval but it waiting on final state aid figures before giving it an official OK.

The 2014-15 spending plan increases spending by nearly $4 million and doesn’t include any major cuts. Proposed tax rates have not been established, however, as school district officials are waiting for exact state aid figures.

Assistant Superintendent for Business Kurt Jaeger said the board may have another meeting Tuesday, which is the state budget deadline. If not, the board will give its official budget approval April 8. Voters will make their determination May 20.

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“We are waiting for exact figures on state aid, health insurance and new proposals,” he said.

The district has reduced estimated budgetary provision for health insurance renewal from $34,826,000 to $34,189,000. The $637,000 saved is now available for new program updates or other purposes.

Trustee Russell Danforth said he was pleased the district wasn’t forced to make any extremely difficult decisions about budget cuts.

Assistant Superintendent of 21st Century Teaching and Learning Doug Silvernell spoke about the ongoing initiatives that administrators want to support. Among these are the high school’s 21st Century Academy; Project Lead the Way classes at the elementary, middle and high school levels; Advanced Placement classes; Early College in the High School programs; sports teams and theater arts.

“We want to expand such programs as Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, Early College offerings and high school classes given at Maple Avenue,” he said.

The board’s trustees expressed their approval of the financial plan, thanking the administrators for their hard work.

“I applaud everyone for their good due diligence in bringing forth a sound budget,” said Trustee Regina Gapczynski. “This is a year-long process. We plan cuts, but we also are planning new programs. It’s an excellent job.”

Trustee Frank Palumbo remarked that April 1 is the day the state budget is due. He hopes that April Fool’s Day won’t influence the legislators.

“There’s so much waste in the things they make us do,” he said, speaking of the unfunded mandates.

Back in May 2013, school district residents overwhelmingly approved the 2013-14 budget by a vote of 1,840 to 456 — a better than four-to-one margin. That $112,602,543 budget represented a 2.62 percent increase over the 2012-13 budget and resulted in a 2.9 percent increase in the tax levy. The tax levy increase was nearly 2 percentage points below the 4.8 percent limit set by the state’s property tax levy cap law and followed four years when the annual tax levy increase averaged 1.27 percent.

In addition to the 2013-14 budget, district residents then approved a capital project proposition by a vote of 1,761 to 474 and a proposition concerning school bus purchases by a vote of 1,740 to 510.